Coronation Street star James Craven, who played Aaron Sanford on the ITV soap, has admitted his 'sadness' at leaving the show following a very emotionally-charged storyline on the programme as Summer Spellman's new love interest.
The pair enjoyed a bit of a 'whirlwind' romance after he met Summer, played by Harriet Bibby, however, their love story soon took a dark twist following their split as Aaron turned to her best friend Amy Barlow.
Corrie viewers watched on in horror according to reports in Manchester Evening News, as Amy, played by Elle Mulvaney, was raped by Aaron. The flatmates were seen bonding over drinking games after they both fell out with Summer.
Speaking about his exit from the show, James said: "It’s obviously very sad. It's been a lot of fun and I’ve really, really loved my time there.
"I met so many great people and I've made so many good friends for life. But I'm excited, I'm really, really excited to get on and go on and do other things."
When asked if it was the ending he hoped for his character Aaron, the soap star admitted: "Yeah, I think I was always hoping that he would admit it or have some sort of admittance.
"I liked that there wasn’t anything particularly overly dramatic about it, and I think unfortunately that is quite realistic, because there are so many of these cases in real life where people don't face justice and people aren't prosecuted for it."
He added: "So I think whilst that's obviously quite a hard thing to come to terms with for Amy, it is sadly quite realistic. I never wanted him to get away with it but I think it's one of those things that he's now got to live with it, knowing what he's done."
Although James did acknowledge that his character didn't quite say what Amy needed him to, it could be the closure she needed. "She knows that he knows what he's done is wrong, even though he never quite admits it, and the fact that he does sort of runaway highlights that," James said.
"But I think for Amy it was just so overwhelming because whilst it's not necessarily the closure that she wanted, in some respects it's possibly as much closure as she needed. Although definitely not the closure she deserves."
Coronation Street airs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
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